How to guides for dummies: Christmas Edition
by castielapplepie
Summary: What do you think is the cause of Sam's sudden need of a Christmas party? Dean is sure it's because of his 'shiny long hair', Castiel just agrees that Christmas is important. A new mission from Heaven is about to mess with them all and people start missing. All this while team free will is trying to bake a cake and decorate for Christmas. Crack. OOC? Destiel. (Sorry, I had to.)
1. Chapter 1

**HOW TO GUIDES FOR DUMMIES**

**Twelve Days of Christmas**

-Supernatural Style

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**Day 1**

_~Cakes, Angels of the Lord and Hunters~_

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><p><strong>November 15th, 2014<strong>

Dean doesn't get it- why does his brother have to be such a girl about pretty much everything? Ok, he can overlook his weird eating habits, his hairstyle and nerd thing, but this is going too far already. It's getting out of hand. Because right now, Winchester the youngest is making a list for Christmas cake and it's only the 15th of November! The whole Christmas shit is more than a month away from them and yet his brother is going all 'Christmassy' on him.

Bobby is neutral about the whole deal- with a beer in his hand and his legs resting on a chair while he is sitting on the sofa in front of the TV. He has given up trying to get Dean pull his thumb out of his ass long ago. Right now, the football match in front of him is way more important than the brother's constant bickering over stupid stuff. And to tell the truth it felt so damn good.

"I still don't get it," Dean states all of sudden while he stares at his brother across the room. Sam raises his gaze from the laptop and gives him a questioning look. "I mean this whole Christmas thing," he clarifies and his brother scoffs.

"Chill, dude, it's just a cake. If you don't want to help me, fine. I'll do it all alone," Sam rolls his eyes- he'll never understand his brother's refusal to do anything 'less-manly' like baking cakes when he loved pie so much.

"I still don't get it," Dean confesses and Sam thinks the same. "I mean, it's 15th of fucking November, I don't see why the sudden rush to prepare for Christmas. It's more than a month away from now! I don't even get it where the idea came from!" he snaps and Sam stifles a laugh at his brother sudden irritation.

"I read about it on the internet a few days ago while I was doing research on possible cases. It was a very interesting article entitled Twelve days of Christmas so I looked. Turns out you prepare little by little for Christmas. And today we are supposed to bake a cake. Usually people do this because the family reunion is way too hard to organize in just a day or two and they extend their duty time on more days to make sure everything is fine. I thought it would be nice to have a somewhat Christmas celebration now that we stopped the Apocalypse and Dick from transforming this planet in his huge Burger King," Sam explains.

Dean can't deny it- his brother _does _have a point, but that doesn't mean he can start to bake cakes and make shopping lists all of sudden. That's too much even for him.

"I'm not helping," Dean announces after a while and Sam shrugs, as if expecting it.

"That's fine by me, but I thought you'd want pie for tonight. Just a thought." Sam says in a casual tone while he stands up and puts his coat on. He exits Bobby's house without looking back and he is about to open the Impala's door and slip in when a hand grips the car's door tight, stopping him.

"I'm coming and no comments 'bout it, you hear me?" he announces and Sam steps away from the car to go to his seat. He'll never get his brother's addiction with pie.

The road to the nearby shop is silent, well almost, because Dean decides to turn the music on so now they are currently listening to Whiskey in the jar, Metallica cover, of course. To his brother surprise, Dean is not even lip singing it so it's somewhat silent. Somewhat.

"I didn't know whiskey is supposed to be drank from jars," suddenly, a low raspy voice states from the backseat, causing Dean to press the breaks on a matter of seconds.

"Dude, stop sneaking on me!" he says half-angered, half-scared and turns to look at the angel in the backseat who is staring at him calm and collected.

"I apologize, Dean, it was not my intention to frighten you," Castiel says same inflexible tone as ever. The older hunter sighs and turns his attention to the road. It was a usual day and Castiel was no different either- he still made the same sudden entrances and then apologized. _Friggin' angels._

"Trouble upstairs?" Dean mocks.

"I called him," Sam cuts him off making Dean gives him a surprised stare. Sam called Cas? Why? Was he missing something? "I figured you'd be a bitch about the whole Christmas shopping thing and he accepted to help," Sam clarifies, but if anything, that confuses Dean more. "I didn't expect you to come with me, anyway." Now what…? He was not allowed to come?

"You are making an Angel of the Lord go Christmas shopping with you? Really, Sammy?" they turn left and Dean can't help but shake his head disapprovingly. Sometimes his brother is simply too much to handle. Must be Lucifer's fault for messing with his marbles a while ago.

"I have been informed it was necessary for Christmas preparation and Christmas is a celebration of His Son's birthday and mankind's salvation. It is of high importance that we do this correctly," Castiel states as a matter of fact, but that only causes Dean to roll his eyes more at the angel in the backseat. "You should not mock the holy day of Christmas, Dean, it is wrong," Castiel scolds him but by now Dean isn't even listening to him.

Dean can't complain though- Cas is back and he's stopped watching the bees. The Warrior of the Lord, his friend is back and that is more important than the fact that said warrior takes the whole shopping for Christmas way too seriously. And if Dean is, at least, one bit honest with himself, he'd admit that it is kind of funny to see the powerful celestial being all worked up over something as simple and casual as shopping.

Finally, they reach the shop Sam wanted to go to and Dean pulls over in front of the said shop. All three men exit the car, two of them way too serious about the whole deal, especially the one in beige trench coat. To strangers, they might look like a bunch of too determined freaks or drunkards who are trying too hard or husbands who have been forced by their wives to go grocery shopping. Who would think that the mysterious trio consisted of a womanizer hunter, smart hunter and an Angel of the Lord? No one.

Though Dean is not as determined about the whole deal, he is a bit frustrated that he let his brother drag him along this stupid thing.

"I'll go look for the ingredients for the cake mix, you go with Cas and buy the fruits. When we are done, we meet up and go buy stuff for the icing," Sam explains and hands them half of the list while he keeps the other part and leaves before Dean can start his questions. Looking at the list, Dean decides to go buy the raisins, but not before letting a couple of groans pass his lips. _It's going to be a long day; hopefully I won't turn into a woman before sunset. Or after. _

At the fruit section of the store, the two men look at the raisins with too much concentration plastered on their faces. Now what are they supposed to do? Just take the stuff or actually compare it like a woman? Castiel is clueless anyway and Dean is frustrated, so he grabs the first thing he sees and doesn't seem damaged. Next, he has to buy 500g of sultanas…what the blue hell are sultanas?

"This is ridiculous!" Dean yells and a couple of women turn to stare him. Castiel gives him a questioning look. "What the hell are sultanas? Since when are wives of sultans needed in a cake? Oooh, it's _that_ kind of cake!"

"I think Sam referred to the pale yellow raisin made from a seedless grape, but I didn't know humans eat sultan's wife also," Castiel says, his eyes narrowing and his blue eyes looking far away, probably trying to figure out the whole thing. Dean bursts into laughter, drawing attention to him again. "What?"

"We don't eat wives, sultan's or not," he tells Castiel as he tries to regain his composure. Dean grabs the sultanas and shoves them in the basket. "Let's see…next we need to get the dried apricots," the hunter says, a smile still curling his lips. The angel nods and follows Dean in his quest to find the apricots. After a lot of wandering around they find the apricots and put them in their basket. Castiel peeks a glance at the hunter- his features are more relaxed than a few minutes ago. According to Sam, his brother dislikes doing anything close to womanly things and as far as Castiel understands, Dean finds shopping a womanly thing, although Castiel doesn't not understand- isn't it supposed to be natural thing for all the human beings to manage the food supply one has? _Why are females required to take care of matters that interest men too? Does Dean think that handling his needs must be done by someone else? It doesn't make sense. _

While the angel has a hard time understanding the way human society works, Dean is having some other sort of trouble- where is he supposed glace cherries? Do you buy them or glace them yourself? Cooking is way too much for him. _And what kind of monster cake is this? Icing it? But it only makes sense, actually- it can't be kept fresh until Christmas if we don't ice it. _He thought as the two of them stroll around the market. _Huh, normal people are weird. And having a normal life is hard. _The realization suddenly dawns on him.

To him, it's more easy to fake being a fed and unbury dead people, hell even stopping the Apocalypse seems a piece of cake than faking your way through the normal life, while trying to offer your offspring the perfect life that no one ever had or has. Suddenly, Dean feels more comfortable with leading a hunter's life, with his brother 'nerding' near him, Bobby pulling them both out of their stupid messes, even if he is just a ghost now, and Cas saving their asses now and then.

Dean sighs and runs a hand through his hair. He still has no clue as to what to do with the cherries but he settles to buy fresh one. To hell with it! After that they buy the pineapple and now they are currently at one of Dean's favourite part: alcohol. _God bless the genius who thought that alcohol is a good idea in cake. _

"Sam said to buy the fruits, I do not believe that orange liqueur can be catalogued as a fruit, even if it is made of orange," Castiel suddenly says behind Dean and Dean turns to give him a toothy grin.

"Sometimes we put alcohol in our food to make it tastier. Plus, it's on the list," Dean clarifies and Castiel nods understandingly. "Well, we are done here," and with that he pulls the cellphone from his pocket and dials Sam's number. Castiel shifts uncomfortably from one foot to another and Dean gives him a questioning look, but doesn't say anything. "We're done here," he tells his brother.

"_Good. Let me grab unsalted butter and we'll meet at the book section," _and with that the call ended. Shouldn't they buy salted butter so demons or other creatures won't devour their masterpiece of a cake? Tossing that aside, Dean makes his way to the book part of the market with a fidgety Castiel behind him.

"What's wrong with you?" he asks all of sudden and Castiel gives him a constipated look, which only causes Dean to frown more. "Cas, you ok, man?"

"Ugh…I don't know," comes his honest response.

"Well, what do you feel then?" Dean tries him again and Castiel looks at loss of words.

"I can't quite explain it. It's…I'm going to be fine, Dean, don't worry," he cuts himself off. Dean wants to push the matter further, but the angel senses it and stops him before the hunter has the chance to say anything. "I'm fine, Dean," he says in a serious tone like 'I don't want to discuss it now'.

"Hey," Sam greets from behind Dean causing the older hunter to turn. "Let's go," and with that they are off to buy the stuff needed for the icing. After buying marzipan, apricot jam, 500mg white ready to roll icing and a pie for Dean, they are back in the '67 Chevy, Impala backs pressed against the car seats and ready to go home.

Dean steals a quick glance of Castiel in the backseat- the angel looks normal, his baby blue eyes focusing somewhere outside the car, but he doesn't look in pain and he doesn't fidget anymore. _This is good; Dean ponders and starts the car._

Back to Bobby's, the three men put the ingredients on the table in the kitchen. Bobby finally stands up from the sofa and goes to the kitchen.

"Oh, feathers's is here too," he states. "Something the matter?" Bobby inquires slightly concerned.

"Samuel said he needed my assistance in buying the necessary ingredients for the Christmas cake the other day," Castiel states firmly and Bobby nods- angels can be really surprising about many things, especially Castiel.

"I'll be in the living room," Bobby lets the others know before disappearing. The brothers shrug to each other then turn the attention to the ingredients.

"So what's next?" Dean asks his brother and Sam pulls another sheet of paper from his paper.

"Put all the dried fruits into a saucepan, add the brandy and your chosen liqueur to the pan then mix it together," Sam reads from the paper and soon after that, Dean is searching for the saucepan. Some may wonder why he is helping at all, but truth is that curiosity has got the best of him- to Dean, baking a cake has become a challenge. And no challenge walks past by him.

"We don't have a saucepan!" he yells frustrated, but as soon as he says that, Castiel puts a hand on his shoulder and makes the hunter to turn to look at him.

"Here," Castiel says handing the new brand saucepan to him.

"Umm…thanks," he murmurs. Did Castiel just zap a pan to cook a cake? _Maybe cooking with angels is actually a good idea. _

"You are welcome, Dean," Castiel replies, blue eyes staring at Dean. There are these moments, every now and then, when Castiel would look at him with that intense blue gaze, as if trying to understand something. And Dean would stare back, with the same intensity; only that Dean never realized what he was doing.

"Ok, this can't be too hard, so dried fruits, brandy and liqueur," he grabs the ingredients and puts them in the saucepan. "What's next?" he asks his brother.

"It says to bring to a simmer and then leave to cool," Sam reads and Dean throws a glance at the mix that started to agitate in the saucepan. Ok, baking a cake doesn't seem too much of a challenge, he'd got this. Dean does as instructed, with both searching gaze of his brother and Castiel's curious one on what he is doing. "Cover and leave to soak, preferably overnight," Sam reads and takes the saucepan and covers it. "Next…" he starts. "Preheat the oven to 150 C/fan 130 C/Gas 2."

"What language is this?" Dean asks all of sudden. And Sam nods.

"It's English, Dean-o," another voice echoes in the room and all the three men turn to look at the man in front of them. Amber eyes and an amused smirk, Gabriel, the Archangel is standing in middle of the kitchen as if it is the most normal thing to do when everyone knows you are dead. "Oh, did you really believe I died? Please, I'm an Archangel, I don't get killed so easily," Gabriel says before any of them could question him.

"Sam," Dean commands and Sam recovers from his blank stare before giving his brother a nod and start throwing salt at the angel.

"Come on, guys. It's me, Gabriel, your favourite trickster!" he snaps.

"But…how?!" Sam asks. He remembered Gabriel's death very clearly. How could he forget something like that? Gabriel decided to step from his neutral nest and help them lock Lucifer in his cage. And he died to do it.

"God's magic ways? I dunno, kiddo, but I'm back," Gabriel shrugs. "Now, weren't you baking a cake or something?" he suddenly changes the topic the three men nod their head, suddenly remembering about the cake. "I came here to help!" Gabriel states joyfully and pushes the others aside. "Cassie, brother, I'm gonna teach you bake the most delicious Christmas cake ever, so watch me close." Castiel nods with a serious look on his face. _Angels and Christmas. _Dean scoffs in his mind.

"What about us?" Dean interjects and Gabe turns to give him the kind of look someone would give to another person after finally acknowledging their presence in the room.

"I suppose you can help," he says carefully, "but you are following my lead," the archangel adds and the two Winchesters shrug at each other before agreeing to Gabriel's conditions. As insufferable as the archangel is, they have to admit that he is the master of all sweets. "Sammy, grab a large bowl and beat together the unsalted butter, mixed spice, ground ginger, sugar vanilla extract and lemon zest until it gets fluffy and creamy!" he chirps cheerfully as Sam is trying to get all the ingredients and memorize them at the same time. "Dean, help him with the ingredients," and soon Dean is looking around for the things his brother didn't get. "Cas, get the bowl," and soon a large bowl is resting on the table.

After all the ingredients are placed in the bowl, Gabriel pushes them away and starts mixing the ingredients.

"Look at this, baby bro, and memorize my movements and the mixture's texture, ok?" Gabe instructs the younger angel, but soon both Dean and Sam are sitting around the archangel with serious and concentrated gazes on their faces. "I gradually beat in all off the eggs and some of the flour and mix really well," he tells his brother. "It is important to do it gradually so they would mix correctly," he explains. "Then we fold in the remaining flour and then stir in the soaked fruits and the nuts. We stir the mixture well," he explains further and soon Sam is staring at him with very much interest plastered on his face.

He has the receipt and it seems that Gabriel knows it by heart, which for some reason, makes Sam thinks it is quite admirable and suddenly he wonders what other things he knows. After a while, Gabriel is done with stirring the mixture and his attention is returned to the second step- preheat the oven.

"Now we preheat the oven, then double line the inside and base of a 25cm cake tin with greaseproof paper. Then, we wrap greaseproof paper around the outside of the tin 3 times and tie with string," he explains as he proceeds, all the eyes very attentive his very movement. "Now we spoon the mixture into the cake tin and bake for 2 hours. We will cover the top with 2 layers of greaseproof paper and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour," he explains.

"Man, this is harder than the summoning spells or any other spell," Dean complains as soon as the mixture is resting in the oven and Gabriel gives him a toothy grin.

"You think?" Sam teases.

"I need a beer," Dean states and soon he is in front of the fridge, pulling a cold one out, before heading to the living room, where Bobby is almost done watching his football match. Dean isn't a big sport's fan- their father wasn't too interested in bonding with his kids while playing football or some other sport, instead he took them out to train them in using guns. But Dean is not really upset because of that. He came to terms with the idea long ago.

"Done playing house with angels?" Bobby asks jokingly and Dean rolls his eyes.

"They are pretty serious about the whole Christmas thing," Dean says taking a sip of his beer.

"Of course, it's Christmas!" Bobby argues.

Dean doesn't get it. His father was never the kind to celebrate Christmas in the normal way. Mostly, he was never there. Other times, they'd just order some Chinese food, Sammy and he would exchange a present or two and that would be it. No tree, no grand dish, no Santa Claus bedtime stories, because they knew better than anyone that Santa was not real. Bobby would always scold John for never letting his boys have a normal Christmas, at least now and then, but John was too busy with his demon crusade to actually stop and consider it for a minute. But Dean couldn't blame him entirely- John's wife, Dean and Sam's mother has been killed because of a demon and their father wanted revenge on the son of a bitch. Little did John know it was all part of a shitty apocalyptical prophecy that his sons become hunters.

"It's an important celebration, Dean. You should rejoice, not sulk," Castiel says next to him on the sofa.

"Sure."

Dean stares at Castiel, but the angel was already staring at him by the time forest green eyes landed on him. Although they have known each other for such a long while, Dean would never be able to tell what the angel is thinking actually. But he feels the sheer power those two blue orbs emanate, he understand that behind all the flesh and bones, there is a far more superior being resting in there, a being that terrifies demons and burns the eyes of the unworthy lookers. Yet, God thinks humankind is his greatest creation. How can that be true, when the angel in front of him, a warrior angel, whom Dean never saw its true form and most likely never will, seems to be so…perfect? Castiel may have made many mistakes in the past, but he only meant to do well. He was so naïve sometimes.

On the other side of the room, Sam is simply standing in the doorframe and looking at nothing in particular. Gabriel, on the other hand, has an amused smirk on his lips again.

"Doesn't it make you mad?" the archangel asks all of sudden pulling Sam out of his deep thinking.

"What? That you came back? No," Sam answers truthfully and Gabriel raises his eyebrows.

"I wasn't talking about that, but I'm glad to hear you missed me, Sammy," he teases and Sam rolls his eyes before giving him one of his well-known bitchfaces. "I was talking about those two lovebirds, the in deep denial one and the probably oblivious one," he clarifies, but that only makes Sam frown.

"My brother's not in love with Castiel," he says slowly as if analyzing the possibilities for that to be true.

"Oh, come on! No one stares for ages at someone else like that, unless they have some feelings for that person!" Gabriel points out. "Have you seriously never observed? After all this time? After all the angels, demons and whatever creature teased Dean by telling him how Castiel is his boyfriend or simply in love with him?" Well, now that he pointed that out…But Sam thought it was only to annoy Dean, not because… "Just look at them. I don't even think they know."

"Really?" Sam asks.

"You're still not convinced," Gabe states.

"Well, it never crossed my mind," Sam retorts.

"Believe me, it will drive you nuts in a few days. The tension between them makes me want to scream 'fuck each other already' and press their faces together so it's that bad," Gabriel explains.

"Then what should we do? If all this is true, knowing Dean, he'd chicken out and mess up everything before anything could happen between them. It's like he has a strong allergy towards feelings," Sam says in a troubled voice and the archangel nods.

"And knowing my baby bro, if he came to understand his feelings, he'd never tell Dean because he knows Dean and his stupid thoughts about the whole deal. So I say we do something about it," Gabe concludes and Sam frowns.

"We?"

"Well, yeah. I can't let those two fools mess this up. No one knows Dean better than you and I know Castiel so we should play matchmaker," he grins at the younger hunter, a lollipop hanging from the corner of his mouth. The taller Winchester nods lightly. Hell, he still isn't sure about the whole thing, but Gabriel isn't stupid. He must know something he doesn't, so he needs to be a little spy on his brother's attitude to see if it's true…

_**Three hours and a lot of brotherly bickering later…**_

The cake is finally out of the oven and Gabriel is making the last preparations before icing it. Everyone is in dead serious silence and after Gabriel made the little holes in the cake, they all declared it finished for now.

All the four of them are sitting on the couch in front of the TV. Gabriel and Sam have little smile plastered on their features, while Dean is making fun of them, laughing out loud and Castiel is looking at him from his silent corner, with a little smile on his lips. Bobby shakes his head from outside the house.

"Idjits."

**To be continued…**

**Author's Note:**

**Credits:**

I do not own Supernatural; it is the wonderful creation of Eric Kripke.

**Rating:**

**M **

**(**For future chapters and for various reasons)

**Words:**

4,339

(Without A.N.)

**Pairings:**

Destiel

(For now this is all I'm telling you.)

**Source of inspiration:**

Do you honestly wanna know? Well, if I am to be really honest it all started while reading the damn catalogue that goes on and on about Christmas. Then my brain made a weird connection like how I started to sound like Dean Winchester and then I asked myself: Why not write a fanfic about it? I swear I get the most fucked up ideas out of normal things. Next thing I'll know is that I write fanfics based on toilet paper and I think I am not too far since my stories suck. I just lack the vocabulary, experience and probably the patience to write a good, less-cheesy, Mary Sue one.

Also, I've recently moved to U.K. and I don't know how these guys do the whole Christmas thing, but it's definitely different from how it's done in Romania.

**Cake recipe:**

I actually found it in The Co-operative food's issue **17 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2014**. If you want to take a look at it, visit their site: .uk. You'll find the recipe at page 56. I messed it up, I know, but please don't hate me.

**Roles:**

**Dean Winchester: **

The womanizer brother, big fan of beer, in an abnormal relationship with his car, probably secretly in love with Angel of the Lord, Castiel. Apparently has a thing against Christmas (at least in this story).

**Sam Winchester:**

The smart brother, with fabulous hair and obsessed with 'rabbit food', oblivious to Dean and Castiel's eye-sex and probably other things too. Master Head of all Twelve Days of Christmas

**Castiel:**

the Angel of Thursdays, Warrior of the Lord, the one who sided with humankind against Heaven, ex-bee-watcher, ex-married-Emmanuel, ex-God, the one who gripped Dean tight and pulled him out of perdition, the angel who doesn't get the reference and human emotions yet.

**Gabriel**

Archangel of the Lord, pagan god Loki, the trickster of all times, one of the stoppers of the Apocalypse, in love with sweets and probably other stuff too, died trying to save the Earth or not…

**Bobby Singer**

Fatherly figure to the Winchester brothers, ex-hunter (sorta, but not really), kind of a ghost, loves a bottle of good whiskey, his books and his 'sons'.

**There are many other characters to be added in the future chapters. Also, I thought that outlining their main features would help understanding the context of this story (because I am not up-to-date with Supernatural, I'm stuck somewhere in season 8, when Samandriel dies and the Naomi bitch manipulates sweet Castiel.)**

**A few more things before I really shut up for good:**

I am sorry for any misspellings I may have made or any other grammar mistakes, for English is not my mother tongue. I am trying to get better at it and I'm looking for a beta, so if there's anyone interested to help me with this fanfic, that person is more than welcomed to do so!

This is my first Supernatural fanfic and I was really looking forward to writing this. Hold your horses, it's not going to stop at bickering and teasing, because I am a fangirl and I have my plans with these knuckleheads. Hehe~.

**Deviantart: **DarkRed-Rose

**Wattpad: **ErisBlake

(Just so you know that I am not copying anyone's work. I'm a cliché original bastard for a reason, eh. :P )

**Cheers, **

**Eris Blake**


	2. Chapter 2

**HOW TO GUIDES FOR DUMMIES**

**Twelve Days of Christmas**

-Supernatural style

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**Day 2**

_~Booze, idjits and blue eyes~_

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><p><strong>November 24th, 2014<strong>

Today Dean is found in yet another predicament.

Turns out, Sam's little charade about Christmas is just true and not some bad dream. Of course, Dean should have known that, since the daily visits the archangel paid them lately to patch up the cake are a constant reminder of the truth. Even so, Dean's hoped that the candy addicted asshole has been visiting them with another reason- suddenly Dean preferred the idea of having Gabriel visiting out of pure boredom more than the actual truth. And said truth is that the Winchesters are preparing for Christmas in a cheesy-sort-of-way.

_Totally not cool._

After solving yet another case, the hunters are back in Bobby's living room, but this time it is different. Sam is sitting with his laptop in his lap, just like the nerd he is, Dean would say, while Dean is pacing up and down the room with a thoughtful, if not angry look on his face. Bobby is sighing on the other side of the room- sometimes being a ghost in house full of idjits doesn't sound like a good idea. Castiel is his usual self, blue eyes landed on Dean's pacing figure. And then, there's Gabriel who wouldn't stop munching on the fucking gummy bears even if his life depended on it!

"So, let me get this straight…you want to organize a fucking Christmas party? Really, Sammy?" Dean snaps all of sudden and stops his pacing to glare at his brother. Sam's green eyes shot up from the laptop and gives Dean a surprised, inquiring look, which only frustrates his brother more.

"Yes, Dean. I don't see why not? It's not going to be something big- just our family. You, me, Bobby, Cas and Gabe," Sam replies in a calm manner, but deep inside he knows that he is a step away from pressing the wrong buttons in his older brother.

"Since when do you call that asshole Gabe?" he points at the innocent looking angel with half of a green gummy bear in his mouth. "I don't recall him being family!"

"That's harsh, Dean. I know you two have a rough past, but he helped us stop the Apocalypse, hell, he even died to protect us and you're still being an ass about some pranks he pulled on us a while ago?" Sam did press the wrong buttons in his brother, but he was not the only one. "What about Cas then?" Dean frowns and steals a little glance at his blue eyed angel who stares at him in return- well, he has been staring for a while, but Dean doesn't know that, because he is blind as a bat. "According to what you are trying to say about Gabriel, Cas is just like him then," his brother pulls him out of his staring contest with the angel only to have him glare daggers at him.

"You are kiddin', right? Cas is not the same," Dean spits in a low voice.

"How so?" Sam challenges.

"He just isn't, ok?" comes Dean's answer, in lack of a better response. Hell, he can't explain it, but he knows it's just not the same. Gabriel is not like Castiel. Not one bit. Sure, Cas has done a lot of stupid things, still… "Period."

"Way to end an argument, Mr. Grumpy Pants!" Gabriel pops in, anger flickering in his eyes. If Dean didn't know better, he'd say that the archangel was hurt for being excluded from the family. But he knows better and he doesn't buy it.

"Balls!" Bobby from the other side of the room shouts drawing all the attention to him. "You are a bunch of princesses. Sometimes it's hard to remember you were the guys who messed up with both Heaven _and_ Hell. Just sit down and let Sam finish his ideas, then you can discuss the matter!" he scolds and suddenly Dean is overwhelmed with embarrassment, but he brushes it off and does as he is told- no need to make Bobby angrier.

"Thanks, Bobby," Sam mutters then turns his attention to the other three guys in the room. "So, as I was saying, I think we should have a Christmas party and before Dean says anything, yes, Gabriel will be there too, so suck it up. It's not necessary to turn this into a big gig, but I think some planning beforehand won't kill anybody and sticking to Twelve Days of Christmas sounds like fun," Sam explains and while Castiel may seem pretty pleased with Sam's words, Dean is still glaring at his younger brother.

"You're a girl, you know," he states, but no one pays him any attention- too tired of his antics to even try to stop him.

"Sounds like a good idea to me," Gabriel says in the end.

"I must agree with Gabriel," Castiel nods to Dean's displeasure. _Friggin' angels and Christmas._

"Sure. I think we all deserve a break from the supernatural stuff. And it's Christmas after all," Bobby interjects.

"Good. Now that we are all settled," Sam starts causing Dean to yell a 'what about me?' which goes ignored by mostly everyone, "it's time to start the second day of Christmas," he announces. "Today we are going to stock up on champagne or just booze in general." And _that_ clicked the right button in the older hunter.

"Now that's something interesting!" Dean whistles.

"Excuse me, I thought that shopping for Christmas was too girly for you, Dean," Sam mocks and pulls out bitchface #10.

"Well, it is, but buying booze is completely another story," Dean retorts.

"Sure. You're lucky you're actually my brother and we can't let you out, because it would also make Cas very sad if we did," Sam says in a slightly suggestive voice making his brother stop and frown.

"Now what's that supposed to mean?" he almost yells and Sam shakes his head- as sharp as Dean may be sometimes, he just missed the most obvious things that were right in front of his face, literally and not.

"Nothing," Sam grins. "Anyway, I say we do this carefully. Like we take a wine catalogue or go the store and examine every bottle thoroughly," Dean rolls his eyes at his brother, but Sam doesn't mind him. "And I say we split in pairs to get the job done faster," he adds.

"Why? Can't we all do it by ourselves?" Dean asks.

"I think what Sam tries to do is make sure no one is upset with the choices we make, Dean. For example, if I go with you, I won't buy something of poor quality and taste, because you would stop me. We could advice each other," Castiel explains and Dean nods, his face contemplative.

"Well, done, baby bro!" cheers Gabriel while winking at him.

"So, yes. That's basically the whole point. I'll go with Gabriel and you'll take Cas," Sam states, but if he thought that his brother was just going to let him go just like that, he has been terribly wrong.

"Why?"

"You mean you want to go booze shopping with Gabriel? Last time I checked you wanted him out of the house, but fine by me." Sarcasm- it never gets old. Dean sighs; his stupid nerdy gigantic brother has a point.

"Nah, I'll take Cas any day," he crunches his nose at Gabriel, but the trickster only gives him one of his playful smiles.

He didn't need to object to being paired up with Cas, but it just seemed like his brother is planning something behind his back and Dean has the feeling he doesn't want to know what. But maybe he is just looking too much into it. Cas is his angel buddy, it would make more sense for the two of them to go shopping. Although Sam could have suggested that they go bro and bro. Why didn't he do that? Stealing a quick glance at Castiel who was thinking about God knows what, he decides that it is better to have Castiel as his shopping friend- Gabriel would probably make fun of the angel and make him buy something disgusting just because he can.

"Ok, now that we are all done, I suggest we split and start buying, ladies," Gabriel stands on his feet, clapping his hands together, this time a lollipop hanging from one corner of his mouth.

Sure, Dean can't help but roll his eyes before grabbing Castiel by the hand and dragging him out of the house to his black Impala. He lets go of the angel hands and for a second even regrets it, but soon that train of thought is gone and he is sitting in his baby with a pleased smile on his face. No one knew how much he loved his car… Which is sweet and concerning at the same time. Seeing that Dean's brother is not accompanying them, Castiel has taken the liberty to sit next to the older hunter.

Castiel will never understand this about Dean: why does Dean insist on showing so much affection to a means of transform, a tool that is meant to help man move faster on long or short lengths? It's not like the car would stop working properly, if Dean treated his car any other way. So then why?

Another thing Castiel doesn't understand is why Dean refuses to ever talk about his feelings. Sam once taught Castiel how to deal with a moody Dean, an angry Dean or mostly any kind of Dean, because, as Sam stated, Dean isn't someone one can just handle. Sam mentioned about his brother avoided talking about his feelings like it would physically harm him or how the hunter would hide his feelings with anger or any other way.

Recently, Dean has been feeling a bit frustrated, but Castiel can't wrap his head around the reason. When he patched Dean up, he left a small amount of his Grace in Dean, so sometimes; he would know a thing or two about the hunter's feelings. The question is: why does Dean find it necessary to do everything by himself? Does he not trust his brother? Or does he not trust Castiel?

And yet another question has arisen; does Dean that Castiel will not help him with his current problem? Why? Castiel helped him whenever he could and he has learned his lesson with becoming God. He would do anything in his powers to help the hunter, why is Dean hesitant to at least speak to him about it? But then, Sam said that Dean would do that if the matter is really serious and troublesome. Dean certainly has a hero and martyr complex, Castiel concludes in his head.

While Castiel has a very elaborated inner turmoil, Dean is more relaxed and the only thing that really bothers him is the sudden Gabriel's sudden resurrection. He has tried to make Gabriel talk about the doer, but either Gabriel doesn't know or he doesn't want to share. Also, it annoys him a little that the damned prick has decided to stick around and nag him all day. Sam doesn't even seem too fazed by it, although it is clear that his baby brother is curious about the sudden return of the Archangel to this plane of existence. Who would or could possibly bring the angelic asshole back and why? Should they worry? Soon they are going to have a serious discussion.

Peeking a quick glance at the angel next to him, Dean suddenly realizes that it might be a good idea to ask Cas a thing or two- maybe he knows about Gabriel's sudden return from the dead.

"Cas?" Dean asks, interrupting the angel's inner turmoil while he turns to stare at him.

"Yes, Dean?" again, his usual inflexible tone that makes Castiel be so…so adorable. Wait, this sounds wrong. A Warrior of the Lord can't be adorable, man or woman. So, Castiel is sometimes like a baby in a trench coat, but totally not adorable; Dean can settle with this.

"Do you know who might have pulled the bastard out of his peaceful supposedly forever slumber?" That earns Dean a narrowing of blue eyes and a deep frown from the angel. It's as if Castiel is in deep thought about a really important matter.

"You mean Gabriel," he says after a while with a careful tone. "No, Dean, I don't know. I'm as surprised as you are to see him alive," he pauses and looks out of the window as if he can find the answers there. "Or maybe we shouldn't be so surprised, it seems to be a pattern with you, the Winchesters and the ones that surround you- we fight, we die and we are revived," Castiel points out and Dean lets out a surprised hum.

"Yeah, I guess so. But what if the one who called your brother back is not on our side?" Dean says.

"Then we have to fight, of course. And I'll help," he adds quickly as if worried that Dean would think he wouldn't, because that's really why Castiel does it.

"I know. Thanks…"

"You're welcome, Dean," Castiel says, a small smile forming on his lips, a smile that Dean misses because he is too busy with the road ahead of him. _Is this the cause of Dean's recent frustration_? Castiel wonders. It could be and soon, the angel decides to brush it off because time will speak the truth eventually, even if the hunter won't, most likely.

"We're here," they stop in front of the market they went ten days before.

After stopping the engine and pulling the handbrake, the hunter is out of the car, followed by the angel clad in the beige trench coat. The stroll in the market casually, or more likely Dean, because Castiel still wears his intense expression, probably observing the humans around him, Dean ponders. They go straight to the alcohol section and soon Dean is in paradise. There is such a large variety to choose from…he doesn't even know where to start. It also dawns on him pretty quickly that he doesn't know so many thing about refined alcohol drinks- he's always been happy with his beer or Bobby's whiskey.

He pulls out a bottle of Venturer Vermentino 2013 and studies it. Now what? Cas assumed earlier that Dean would know his stuff, but he actually doesn't know about it too well and he feels ashamed because of it.

"Oh, that's Venturer Vermentino, isn't it?" Castiel asks from behind him before walking next to him to take a better look at the bottle. "It seems that I am correct," he states as a matter of fact and Dean frowns. The angel knows about wine? Since when? "It is well-fitted next to shellfish and has a lemony flavor, I didn't think it would interest you," he adds and that leaves Dean mouth agape. The hell?

"You know about wine?" he asks all of sudden. The socially awkward angel knows about more alcohol than self-proclaimed Master of Booze Dean; that's a shocker, at least for the hunter.

"Of course, Dean. For some reason, you keep forgetting that I am a powerful celestial being that has been around this world longer than you have. I might be socially handicapped and naïve at times, but I am do not lack knowledge about different topics," he states, his voice is laced with anger and Dean nods in agreement. It is true, sometimes he forgets that Castiel is certainly not a baby in a trench coat.

"Then why did you say that I would help you choose something more fitted?" Dean asks all of sudden.

"Would you rather I told them the truth?" Castiel answers with yet another question, but Dean is agreeing with him again. No, he would not like to be embarrassed in front of his younger brother and the annoying archangel.

"Uh…thanks," he mumbles and changes the subject before it could get any more 'touchy-feely' as Dean puts it in his head. "So…what do you recommend?"

"It depends on what you want," Castiel complies with the hunter's blatant trial to change the subject, it is something Sam warned him about, Dean would often do that when he thinks that the area of the discussion is getting dangerous or if might include some honest feelings in it. _Yes, definitely allergic to feelings_, Castiel concludes.

"How about I tell you what I don't want then we will narrow our research down a bit, huh?" Dean proposes and Castiel nods. "Good. So, white wine is out of question, sweet fruity wine too and mostly any kind of wine. But if you've got some good recommendation on some more…dark wine, then shoot," Dean's words trail off, silently asking himself if he haven't confused the angel more with his half-assed description.

"I understand," Castiel says as if on cue and turns to look around. "I don't get one thing though," he adds and Dean rises his eyebrows as if trying to encourage Castiel to go on. "Why are we shopping from this tiny market when I could 'zap' us all around the world?" Castiel tilts his head and does the air quotes too.

"Firstly, stop using the air quotes, dude, secondly, I don't know," he admits. "I think Sam wants us to try have a normal Christmas, well as normal as it can be for us, and zapping us around the world doesn't count as normal," Dean shrugs. Hell, he hates admitting this, but he actually agreed to the whole Christmas part because his brother really wants it and he can't deny his brother some fun time- God knows how much his baby brother deserves happiness. He can do this at least. But he isn't going to explain this to Cas, he won't explain this to anybody because there is no use to do so.

"I see. Well, then I recommend Paul Chevalier Hermitage 2010- dark ripe, rich and concentrated with black peppercorn smoky notes and freshness," Castiel pulls out a dark bottle with a white paper around its base and shows it to Dean.

"You sound like a wine specialist all of sudden. I like it," Dean says before he catches himself saying it.

He wishes to mentally stab himself for it, but hopefully the angel won't understand the flirty tone he has just used. Dean is not interested in his best angel friend, he doesn't even understand where the last line came from. But if Castiel notices something, he doesn't say anything and Dean is grateful for it. _Maybe Cas didn't understand…_

"So I think that Paul Chevalier blah, blah I forgot the rest of its name sounds good," he adds, desperate to change the topic.

And he doesn't mean to be rude or anything, but he just can't remember long names in some foreign language he doesn't even know. He'd say it is in French, but he is not the brainy brother among the Winchesters. Castiel nods and keeps the bottle.

"Next, I think we should buy some whiskey too. You can't go wrong with it, everyone loves a good glass of whiskey, believe me," Dean says, more relaxed than before because he knew a thing or two about whiskey. "So what do you recommend, doc?" Dean says jokingly and Castiel squints his eyes at him.

"I think you would very much enjoy Glen Marnoch 24 Year Old Single Malt Whisky," Dean gives him an 'are-you-kidding-me kind of look, "It is a rich, luxurious single malt with memorable notes of vanilla, toffee and leather. It sounds like something you would find very pleasurable. On the other hand, there is Chevalier XO Cognac, well balanced layers of fig, dried fruit, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla and cocoa," by now Dean is actually mouth-agape. Either the angel has tried them or watched too much TV on the boring channels. Either way, his knowledge proves to be useful.

"We'll take both," Dean concludes and Castiel nods. "Now let's see what you want," and yet again Castiel tilts his head and stares at Dean with that intense blue gaze. "You are kiddin', right? You are part of the family too, Cas, so choose your booze," Dean says wrapping an arm around the angel's shoulders.

"Earlier you said that Gabriel is not 'part of the family'," Castiel uses the air quotes despite Dean's clear displeasure with his gesture, "Gabriel is a brother of mine, therefore I am not part of the family either," Castiel pouts. Wait. Castiel is pouting. And this causes Dean to panic.

"Damn, Cas, when you put it this way…I didn't mean…it's just…you're different, ok? I don't know how, but you are. And you are welcomed to our party. Plus, we both know that Gabriel will be there too. I wasn't actually serious about not allowing him to stay…" he explains, looking somewhere else. "So what do you wanna drink?" Crisis averted and touchy-feely moment dodged. Castiel gets it, but he doesn't say anything. He would dwell on Dean's suspicious behavior later.

"Well…"

**Back to Sam and Gabriel…**

"I say we go to the nearest city, I heard they had a large variety of booze," Gabriel says as soon as his baby brother and the idiotic older hunter leave the scene. Sam raises his eyebrow at him. "Fine, we won't zap around," the archangel sighs.

"Ok, cool then. I'm gonna ask Bobby what car should I take," and with that the younger Winchester is out of the room.

Gabriel leans on the sofa and amber eyes get lost in the steady, peaceful outside the window world. It's good to be back to the wonderful world of the living. He has missed his brother, even though he committed many crimes, like playing God and freeing Leviathans and working with Crowley, King of Hell. Sure, he is pissed off and maybe a little more than that, but Castiel is his brother and he also knows that Cassie meant to do good- it was his way of doing it wrong. But what really concerns Gabriel is something else, calling a gut feeling, he has a slight feeling that the huge threats on Earth and humankind are not over.

"Are you coming or not?" Sam asks- Gabriel hasn't even noticed when he came back.

"Sure thing," he says, a smirk on his face- whatever is going to happen, and it can wait because he has a Christmas party to organize. Once they are in the car and Sam starts the engine- it feels good to drive for once, mind you- and they are off to the closest city.

"Your brother is an idiot, you know," Gabriel informs Sam as soon as they are on the road. Sam scoffs_- _yes, he knows that very well. "Though I must admit that he was kind of sweet when he told us he'd take Cassie any day," he shakes his head in disapproval.

"You were right, you know- about the constant eye-fucking and all. After you pointed it out, it was impossible not to look at them to check if it was true…and hell, I've never seen Dean so smitten before. I bet he doesn't even know it. It's driving me nuts already- the past ten days have been hellish," Sam complains.

He would have never thought that womanizer Dean, no touchy-feely Dean would fall for an _angel_- well Cas is not like Raphael or Uriel- but he is an angel nonetheless. And said angel just happened to be in a male vessel. As far as Sam is concerned, he well aware of the fact that angels are celestial genderless beings of light, but he doubts his brother can get past the male vessel thing. _Maybe that's why Dean doesn't even see his feelings- his whole mind must be rejecting the idea of loving a male, even if said male is not even male. _Oh, God, his brother was a true idiot.

"We have to do something," Sam concludes, even more determined than he was initially. Gabriel raises his eyebrows at him, not expecting the sudden determined tone. "I think Dean doesn't even see his own feelings because he can't get past the male vessel thing. He's completely stupid," Sam explains.

"Glad we share the opinion, Sammikins."

"Dude, don't. It's Sam," Sam corrects the archangel, but he doesn't even seem to listen to him. Ever since the prankster came back, he would doze off from time to time and Sam would wonder what the archangel can be thinking about. "We're here," he announced after a long while and soon both of them are out of the car, off to buy alcohol.

**Back to Dean and Castiel…**

They are on their back to Bobby's with a trunk full of alcohol and deadly weapons and Dean is singing loudly _Eye of the tiger_, while Castiel is trying to memorize the lyrics. Soon, the angel is singing with Dean too, thinking it would be the right thing to do- Dean looks like he is having fun, it wouldn't kill Castiel is he tried too. Dean is surprised that Castiel decided to sing too, but he can't complain- Cas has a good voice, he is an angel after all.

They pull over at Bobby's and find the ghostly man with a surprised look on his face.

"What happened?" Bobby asks, once the angel and the hunter are out of the Impala.

"I have been singing this song with Dean- it made me very happy. I didn't know that singing human songs could have this effect on me," Castiel says, a huge smile plastered on his face, somewhere next to Dean. Dean shrugs, ignoring Castiel's comment.

"You heard him," Dean says before entering the house, but not without noticing Castiel huge smile. He swears he has rarely seen the angel smiling, let alone wear such a huge one. If he had known that Castiel would be jumping up and down over such small things most humans doesn't even acknowledge, he would have tried to cheer up the angel more.

"Idjits," Bobby mutters under his breath as soon as the two men are out of sight.

At the end of the day, the hunter and the angel are gathered in Bobby's living room with all the alcohol they could their hands on today on the floor. There is a lot of it, that's the main thing.

"I say we stash it in the panic room. I don't think any of us will run crazy until Christmas, hopefully," Sam proposes and both Dean and Bobby. With them, you never know what is going to happen, but _hopefully_ they can enjoy at least one Christmas party in their whole lives without having to lock demons or fallen angels in other dimensions. Hopefully.

"Well, I say we go for it," Dean shrugs in lack for better ideas.

"Dean, you do realize that you will not touch the bottles until Christmas, right?" Sam asks suspiciously. Knowing his brother and his unhealthy habits, it wouldn't surprise Sam to have barely any alcohol left on Christmas Eve.

"Pfft. Of course!" Dean scoffs, suddenly feeling insulted. "I know that no means no," he says as if trying to prove a point but everyone, including Castiel, is giving him _the _look- the kind of disbelieving look. "What?"

"Ok, we believe you," Gabriel says all of sudden and now everyone turns to look at him.

"We do?" both Bobby and Sam ask at the same time.

"Yes. Dean is a grown up man and he can understand that later means later," Gabriel explains and everyone is shocked, to say the very least. They would have expected Castiel to take Dean's part, but Gabriel? The two of them- Dean and Gabriel- are at each other's throats almost 99% of the time. _Guess this is the other 1% when those two fools would look past their past mistakes or huge egos, _Sam thinks.

"You heard him," Dean makes a gesture with his hand towards Gabriel. The next second, the booze is out of the living room and everyone is eyeing Gabriel.

"Gabriel!" Sam says in an annoyed motherly voice which amuses Dean to no end.

"You didn't want to carry all that to the panic room now did you?" the archangel asks in an innocent voice.

"Well, if you put it that way, no…but the whole idea of normal Christmas…" Sam's words trail off- he looks troubled.

"Oh, come on! I say normal is boring and tiresome. Let's do this the Winchester-Angel way!" Gabriel yells in enthusiasm, a determined smile on his lips.

"Damn right, asshole," Dean says holding a hand in the air and Gabriel high-fives him. _No way. What happened to my brother?_ Sam is standing petrified in the living room and Bobby gives him a small smile.

"Must be a Christmas miracle," Bobby mutters jokingly next to Sam. Sam laughs a little at the whole image of his brother smiling at the archangel he can't stand. Gabriel walks to Sam and Bobby, followed by both Dean and Cas, and they all share a huge high-five.

**To be continued…**

**Author's Note:**

**Credits:**

I do not own the beautiful universe of Supernatural. Eric Kripke is the owner of this Master Piece.

**Rating:**

M

(for future chapters)

**Words:**

4,859

(Without A.N.)

**Pairings:**

Destiel

(that's all for now)

**Source of inspiration:**

I've upgraded myself- now I am using both The Co-operative's food catalogue _and_ Aldi's. Why? 'Cuz I can. All the info about the booze can be found in Aldi's catalogue, all provided by Olly Smith, wine specialist.

I enjoy a nice glass of fizz, but I am no specialist.

**One more thing before I stop my rambling that you probably don't even read- can't blame you though:**

Read, Enjoy and Review, if you feel like it.

**Ta-ta,**

**Eris Blake**


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